Date: January 1st 2009 11:55:36 p.m.

2nd January 2009

Prof. G. C. ASNANI, MSc., Ph.D. (United Nations Service, Retd.)
822, Sindh Colony, Aundh,
Pune – 411 007 (HINDUSTAN, INDIA)
Tel: 91-20-2588-0347
E-mail: i)asnanigc@yahoo.com, ii) gcasnani@vsnl.com
 
News and Views 2nd January 2009
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1. Hamas leader killed in air strike (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
2. Sri Lanka army 'seizes key area' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
3. Two bombs wrapped like Christmas gifts in Colorado, USA police say (cnn.com)
4. Iraqis take formal control of Baghdad's 'Green Zone' from U.S. Military (cnn.com)
5. Israel to Gaza: Just leave us alone.  Israel, of course, is forced to fight with one hand tied behind its back -- tied by the so-called "international community" that puts enormous pressure upon it, and even convinces the weak-minded in the American government to join in, when the Israeli goal is actually quite simple and straightforward. (http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
6. Hizballah top official: "The Israelis claim they have learned the lessons of the Second Lebanon War, but they haven't"(http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
7. Ramayana with digital imagery. Eight years over sixty is the age when one thinks of pampering oneself after a hectic life of career and cares. But not for S.R. Kolluri who began exploring his right brain after retirement to satiate his creative urge. The end result is ‘Ramayana’, a repetition of the epic story in a refreshed format. Displayed at the recently-inaugurated Hyderabad Book Fair, Mr. Kolluri’s work contains in each page, digitally created images along with a brief explanation. (organiser.org)
8. CPM rout in red bastion in Kerala (organiser.org)
9. Highs and lows mark an eventful year for India (http://dailypioneer.com/)
10. Bangladesh triumphs -Hasina’s victory is a rejection of Islamic fanatics (http://dailypioneer.com/)
11. Jihadi Terrorism--- 2008 & 2009: Part I: India - International Terrorism Monitor. Next to Israel, India has been waging the longest fight against jihadi terrorism of the home-grown as well as trans-national variety. ---Paper No. 487 - By B. Raman (southasiaanalysis.org)
12. Jihadi Terrorism--- 2008 & 2009: Part II & Last: Pakistan-Afghanistan International Terrorism Monitor---Paper No. 488 -By B. Raman  (southasiaanalysis.org)
13. Vedic Verses for 1/1/09. Lead us to a wide world, O wise one, t o heavenly light, fearlessness, and blessing. Strong are your arms, O powerful Lord. We resort to your infinite refuge.(Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
14. The Master Course - Lesson 264. Who Are the Priests of Siva Temples? Adishaiva priests are the hereditary pujaris, who care for the temple and conduct its varied rites and rituals as humble servants of God. They are trained in the complex arts of worship, generally from a young age. Aum.  (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
15. Gospel of Jesus: Did Jesus advise to Divide, to Kill, and to Rule? Was he a Terrorist? Who can believe this?
i) Holy Bible - New Testament, Luke 12; 51-53: Jesus said:
"Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the World? No, not peace, but division. From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law."
ii) Holy Bible, New Testament, Luke 20; 27: Jesus said: “for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence.”
iii) Holy Bible New Testament, MATHEW 16; 18-19: Jesus said, "Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock I will build my Church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; what you prohibit on Earth will be prohibited in Heaven, and what you permit on Earth will be permitted in Heaven."
16. Tirukural - Section II: The Way of The Householder. He alone may be called a householder who supports students, elders and renunciates pursuing well their good paths. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
17. Modi spends New Year with BSF jawans and promises supporting facilities. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
18. Aag lagao, aag lagao, LeT bosses told Mumbai attackers. According to sources, details of Voice over Internet Protocol calls between the jihadis holed up in the Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House and their Lashkar bosses in Pakistan provide a chilling account of the remorseless efficiency with which the massacre was choreographed. (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/)
19. Serial blasts on the New Year Day jolt Assam just before Home Minister reached there. Security agencies were of the view that militants carried out the attacks to send a message to Chidambaram that they can strike as and when they want. (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/)
20. FBI set to present proof to Pak (http://epaper.timesofindia.com)
 
 
1. Hamas leader killed in air strike (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
Nizar Rayyan is one of the most senior Hamas leaders killed by Israel
 
A senior Hamas leader has been killed by an Israeli air strike on his home in the Gaza Strip, Hamas officials say.
 
Nizar Rayyan, the most senior Hamas figure to be killed since 2004, had urged suicide attacks against Israel.
 
News of the strike came on the sixth day of Israeli strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.
 
Palestinian medical sources say 402 people have been killed. Israel says it is trying to prevent militants from firing rockets into southern Israel.
 
Mr Rayyan is the most senior Hamas leader to be killed since the death of Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in April 2004.
 
Long reach of Israel
 
Since its bombing campaign began last Saturday, Israel has attacked Hamas fighters and commanders.
 
Sites linked to Hamas have also been hit, including smuggling tunnels under the border to Egypt, government buildings and security compounds.
 
Obituary: Nizar Rayyan
 
Hamas considered Mr Rayyan to be a political leader, but he often wore a military uniform and was close to the group's armed wing.
 
Until now, political leaders have not been killed.
 
The BBC's Mike Sergeant, in Jerusalem, says this may further strengthen the determination of Hamas to resist the Israeli air assault.
 
But it will also be seen as an indication that the Israeli military can target key members of the Hamas leadership - the people Israel says are responsible for the rockets being fired towards Israeli towns, our correspondent adds.
 
Four Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rockets fired into Israel since Saturday.
 
Humanitarian warning
 
On Wednesday, Mr Rayyan had promised that Hamas would hit Israel "even deeper" than it has so far.
 
On the Hamas-run al-Aqsa television channel, he said Hamas militants were preparing for any Israeli ground incursion, saying "we will kill the enemy and take hostages".
 
Israeli planes and helicopters have bombed Gaza for six days
 
At least nine other people, some said to be members of Mr Rayyan's family, were also killed in the air raid on his home in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip.
 
The deaths come as the main UN agency operating in Gaza, Unwra, has resumed food deliveries, but warned of a dire humanitarian situation in the territory.
 
The UN says at least 25% of the 402 Palestinians killed were civilians; Palestinian medical officials say more than 2,000 people have been injured.
 
Israel is refusing entry to Gaza for international journalists and has declared the area around it a "closed military zone", leading to speculation a ground offensive into the tiny coastal strip could be imminent.
 
'Truce violated'
 
Both Israel and Hamas have ignored international calls for a ceasefire.
 
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said there was no need for a ceasefire on humanitarian grounds as more lorries containing aid were entering Gaza than before the conflict began last Saturday.
 
Speaking in Paris after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, she said Hamas had used the previous six-month truce, which ended mid-December, to re-arm.
 
Tzipi Livni says Hamas is a problem for all Palestinians
 
"Another thing which is important to understand is that Israel accepted a truce a few months ago that was initiated by Egypt, but during the few months of the truce Hamas violated the truce, and they used it in order to get missiles with a longer range."
Hamas has said Israel must stop bombarding Gaza and lift its blockade of the territory before it will consider a ceasefire.
 
Mr Sarkozy is travelling to the Middle East next week in an attempt to find a way to end the crisis.
 
A draft UN resolution put forward by Egypt and Libya failed after the US and UK complained that it called on Israel to ends its air assaults but made no mention of Hamas rocket attacks against Israel, which they say started the latest hostilities.
 
For the current violence to end, Israel needs to show that it has stopped the rocket fire, says the BBC's Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen.
 
But if Hamas can still resist, its leaders will feel they can claim victory. Hamas believes that its fighters who are launching rockets into Israel are taking part in legitimate resistance against an occupier, he adds
 
2. Sri Lanka army 'seizes key area' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
Troops closing in on Kilinochchi have faced resistance for months
 
Sri Lanka's military says it has seized a strategically important junction in the north from Tamil Tiger rebels.
 
The military said at least 50 Tamil fighters were killed in the battle for Paranthan, a crossroads north of the Tigers' headquarters in Kilinochchi.
 
The military said its success at Paranthan had effectively cut the main supply line to several Tiger strongholds in the north of Sri Lanka.
 
The rebels said this week they were successfully defending Kilinochchi.
 
Troops fighting their way towards the town have faced determined resistance for months, but the army says the it is now on the verge of falling.
 
See map of the region
Both sides have recently claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on each other in the north of the island.
 
Concerted assault
 
The fighting for Paranthan was bitter and lasted for hours, according to a statement by Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence.
 
Soldiers entered the small township in a concerted assault, said the Ministry of Defence, but the Tamil Tigers launched a series of counter attacks.
 
There were fierce battles with Government troops supported by fighter jets, helicopter gunships, artillery and mortar fire before the rebels withdrew in disarray, the ministry said in a statement.
 
The rebels, who have fought for a generation for a separate state for the ethnic Tamil minority, have not commented directly on the military claims about Paranthan.
 
But they said four civilians had been killed and 18 wounded by government air raids in the area they control.
 
There have been no independent reports of the latest fighting from the frontlines and it is impossible to verify either account of casualties.
 
Correspondents say that while the government remains on track to win the war, heavy battles are likely still to lie ahead and there is concern about the fate of the large number of civilians in the Tiger-controlled north.
 
The rebels deny using them as human shields and reject allegations they are forcing people into their ranks to fight.
 
Kilinochchi remains a hugely symbolic target because it is where the Tigers have established their administrative headquarters, says the BBC's Roland Buerk in Sri Lanka.
 
3. Two bombs wrapped like Christmas gifts in Colorado, USA police say (cnn.com)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
Two bombs left on sled in alley likely intended for other banks, police said
 
ASPEN, Colorado (CNN) -- A man delivered bombs wrapped as Christmas presents to two banks Wednesday along with a note threatening "mass death" if they did not turn over tens of thousands of dollars, police in Aspen, Colorado, said Thursday.
 
A surveillance camera photo supplied by Aspen police shows the man identified as James Blanning.
 
Authorities were quickly alerted, and the man apparently halted his plan, leaving two bombs that were intended for other banks in an alley, police said.
 
"You had better be a very cool individual and not start a panic or many in Aspen will pay a horrible price in blood," said the note, which was released by police.
 
The man, identified as James Blanning, 72, who had had previous run-ins with law enforcement, was later found dead after apparently shooting himself, police said. Watch how the situation unfolded »
 
His body was found in his car in a rural area east of Aspen.
 
"At this point, we believe Blanning was acting alone," Aspen Assistant Police Chief Bill Linn said Thursday.
 
Authorities ordered the evacuation of a 16-block area of Aspen on New Year's Eve, one of the busiest nights of the year for the resort town, after the bombs were found.
 
Linn said that it is impossible to calculate how much revenue businesses in the area lost on New Year's Eve because of the bomb scare but that it was easily "in the millions."
 
Bomb squads ultimately detonated the devices, and no one was injured.
 
Linn praised the banks for their "clearheaded response" in immediately alerting authorities on Wednesday.
 
The calls to police came about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Blanning had delivered "large plastic tubs" containing "wrapped Christmas-style presents" along with a threatening note to a Wells Fargo Bank branch and a Vectra Bank branch, police said. Watch how notes threatened destruction »
 
Repeatedly using the word "we," as though a group of people was behind the plot, the obscenity-filled note described a bomb filled with "unique chemicals and electronics" and demanded that $60,000 in hundred-dollar bills be handed over in 20 minutes outside the bank.
 
The note also refers to the Iraq war and describes President Bush as "Rove's and Chaney's monkey." Read note police say was left by suspected bomber »
 
"This is as much a suicide mission as a bank robbery," the note said.
 
The devices in the alley were first to be detonated, Linn said.
 
"They were found to contain improvised incendiary devices made of gasoline and containing what appeared to be cell phone actuators and anti-tamper devices," he said.
 
Authorities couldn't determine whether the bombs would have worked. When one bomb was detonated at Wells Fargo Bank, it triggered a fireball that was quickly extinguished, but authorities don't know whether that was the result of the detonation or the device itself activating, Linn said.
 
When Blanning's body was found in his vehicle, he had "at least a rifle" with him, and may have had other weapons as well, Linn said.
 
Authorities say the man also delivered a hand-written note to the Aspen Times.
 
A copy of the note showed a 10-line printed scrawl that included the words "Will & Testament" and "2 crime scenes" with two apparent addresses of apartments in Denver.
 
"For the first two years I was in prison I woke up every morning wishing I was dead. Now it comes to pass. I was and am a good man," the note begins.
 
Public records show that Blanning was convicted of several crimes, including forgery and theft, in 1996 in Rio Blanco County in northwest Colorado. His sentence was scheduled to end in 2009, but he was out of prison on parole.
 
In 1994, the Rocky Mountain News published a story about Blanning, then 58.
 
"An embittered man with a rope around his neck held off authorities from a perch on the roof of the Pitkin County Courthouse in Aspen for seven hours Thursday," the story said.
 
Blanning ultimately surrendered in that incident, according to authorities quoted in that story.
 
CNN left a phone message at a Denver address for Blanning found via a public records search. The call, which sought comment from a representative for him, was not immediately returned.
 
No public statement has been made on Blanning's behalf.
 
Substantial business was lost Wednesday evening, according to a report in the Rocky Mountain News. 
 
"This has got to be the worst for us. ... Outside the Fourth of July, this is the cash cow of all cash cows," the newspaper quoted the on-call manager of the Molly Gibson Lodge in Aspen as saying. "Most of the restaurants are going to be terribly hurt."
 
"People are losing so much money, it's crazy," Monique Wagner, front desk clerk at the Hyatt Grand Hotel, told the newspaper.
 
4. Iraqis take formal control of Baghdad's 'Green Zone' from U.S. Military  (cnn.com)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
U.N. mandate authorizing foreign troop presence expired Wednesday
 
New bilateral pact covers U.S. presence until 2011
 
U.S. troops to leave Iraqi cities by end of June
   
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military formally handed authority over Baghdad's "Green Zone" to Iraqis on Thursday as new pacts governing the mission of international troops replaced a U.N. mandate.
 
An Iraqi honor guard parades outside the former palace of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad on Thursday.
 
 Iraqi troops took over checkpoints around the heavily protected district, formally known as the International Zone, which houses Iraqi government offices and the U.S. Embassy.
 
Saddam Hussein's Republican Palace, which served as U.S. headquarters in Baghdad after the 2003 invasion that ousted Iraq's longtime strongman, was among the facilities handed over in Thursday's ceremony.
 
"This day is a great day in the history of the Iraqi people," Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta said.
 
Maj. Gen. David Perkins, a U.S. military spokesman, noted the significance of turning over the former Republican Palace. Watch what goes on in the "Green Zone" »
 
"The palace was handed back to the Iraqi people, significant as symbol of the head of the government and a sign for increased sovereignty," he said at a news conference with Atta.
 
Thursday marked the first day of a U.S.-Iraqi pact that allows U.S. forces to remain in the country until 2011, under tighter restrictions. Similar agreements have been signed with other coalition countries that remain in Iraq. A U.N. mandate that authorized international forces in the country expired Wednesday.
 
Perkins said American troops will continue to fight alongside Iraqis -- "but the Iraqis will be in the lead."
 
"When you come up to a checkpoint, the Iraqis will check your identification. They will make the decision if you come in or go out," he said.
 
"We will continue to be there to provide some technical capacity, to provide some mentoring, but you will see less and less American forces and more and more Iraqi forces -- and they will have the majority of the responsibility for making those key decisions which determine the security of the capital."
 
Iraq's three-member Presidency Council ratified the new pact in December. Under the deal, U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraqi cities and towns by June 30, and all American troops will leave the country by the end of 2011, more than eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Hussein.
 
The agreement authorizes the "temporary assistance" of U.S. forces but severely restricts their role. It requires Iraqi approval for all military operations and gives Iraqi courts the right to try U.S. troops and contractors for "grave premeditated felonies."
 
5. Israel to Gaza: Just leave us alone.  Israel, of course, is forced to fight with one hand tied behind its back -- tied by the so-called "international community" that puts enormous pressure upon it, and even convinces the weak-minded in the American government to join in, when the Israeli goal is actually quite simple and straightforward. (http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
Israel, of course, is forced to fight with one hand tied behind its back -- tied by the so-called "international community" that puts enormous pressure upon it, and even convinces the weak-minded in the American government to join in, when the Israeli goal is actually quite simple and straightforward.
 
That goal is to stop the sending of thousands of rockets indiscriminately (or discriminately, for that matter) into Israel, into such major population centers as Ashkelon, Ashdod, and now Beersheva, requiring nearly a million Israelis to have to worry all the time about the 15 seconds they have to find shelter against incoming rockets. It's a very simple demand. It has nothing to do with changing the immutable ideology of Hamas. It has nothing to do with winning unwinnable -- because firmly inculcated with Islam -- hearts and minds. It is purely a military matter: is Hamas going to be allowed to continue a gigantic, a truly monstrous arms buildup, with every kind of missile that the Iranians or others can supply them with, or is it not?
 
Never mind the Gazan Arabs’ consistent whine that they have every right -- see the Hamas charter, do, it's long past time that you read it and took it seriously -- to steadily pile up rockets and other war materiel for the sole purpose of using it against Israel, and whenever they can to send those rockets whirring into Israel. Never mind the absurdity of Hamas and the Gazan Arabs complaining of how unfair it is of Israel to try to interdict those arms smuggled into Gaza, and of how further unfair it is of Israel to complain when a few dozen such rockets are lobbed during the "ceasefire" every month. Then when Hamas declares (on December 19) that it will no longer "observe" (it never really did, but only diminished the numbers of rockets it used) the ceasefire, it underscores this by sending 70 rockets in a single day toward Israel's population centers. Never mind all that, and never mind the idiotic notion th at Israel has to "win Arab hearts and minds." That kind of thing can only be said by those who simply refuse to acquaint themselves with Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira, refuse to listen to what the sermons of imams contain, refuse to look at the Arab textbooks, refuse to read any of the great Western scholars -- or for that matter the great Muslim scholars -- of Islam, refuse to heed the growing number, in the West, of articulate defectors from the Army of Islam, such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Wafa Sultan, and Ibn Warraq.
 
And never mind the whining about Israel not being quick, even being -- how dare Israel? -- reluctant to supply those who wish to destroy it with electric power supplied by Israel's grid, and goods and services of every kind, and even continued access to free Israeli medical care for difficult cases. All this the Gazan Arabs, like the "West Bank" Arabs, have come to believe is theirs by right, without the slightest sign of embarrassed recognition of what might be called cognitive dissonance about the "Nazi-like Israelis" who have for decades offered them this access, this service, with scarcely anyone in the Western world even bothering to note this, as if it were a thing of no account.
 
No, never mind all that. Never mind that Gazan Arabs do not work, and have not tried in the slightest to do anything except to make war on Israel, for they exist knowing that UNRWA and the Infidel donors of Europe and America will always be there to relieve them of the hard work of existence. And note that the Gazan Arabs and the "West Bank" Arabs and the other so-called "Arab refugees" are the spoiled children of the "international community" that has been so thoroughly penetrated, manipulated, and dominated by the Muslim Arabs, or by an Islamintern, that we find that 2% of the U.N.'s total budget goes each year for the exclusive benefit of the "Palestinian" Arabs, and 3% of the U.N. budget goes for all of the hundreds of millions of other refugees all over the world. And those "Palestinian" so-called "refugee camps" are in essence cities, with -- for god's sake -- DVD stores (some of them have been bombed by too-enthusiastic Muslims) and cell-phone stores. Some refugee camps! Yet the Gazan Arabs manage to keep themselves on the U.N. and Infidel dole. Why are not the rich Arabs taking care of their fellow members of the umma? They, after all, are rolling in still-unspent hundreds of billions. And aren't Muslims supposed to help fellow Muslims? Didn't Allah send the oil, and therefore the oil revenues, for the enjoyment not of some but of all of those who constitute his "best of peoples," that is, the Muslim Arabs?
 
Just keep this in mind: if there were no rockets shot into Israel, no fantastic arms buildup of military equipment, smuggled under several hundred tunnels that have been carefully constructed (and from the secondary explosions that you can see from the bombing of them, these places were full of arms), then there would be nothing, absolutely nothing, not a gun, not a tank, not an airplane, not a paper airplane, from Israel going into Gaza.
 
It is a simple choice. It is the most understandable and basic request: stop sending rockets, stop spending all of your energies making war or preparing for war. Leave us alone. That's all. Just leave us alone. That is what any country -- even besieged and thrown-to-the-Muslim-wolves Israel -- has a right, and a duty, to demand.
 
6. Hizballah top official: "The Israelis claim they have learned the lessons of the Second Lebanon War, but they haven't"(http://www.jihadwatch.org/)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
Hizballah top official: "The Israelis claim they have learned the lessons of the Second Lebanon War, but they haven't"
 
Still gloating
 
Nasrallah, unfortunately, may be right. He says, according to this report, that Israel "has not set a clear target for the current Gaza operation." By this I take him to be referring to the lack of a clear goal. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, has said that "the main goal is to destroy completely this terrorist gang," and one may hope for the world's sake that the Israelis will stick to that goal, but in 2006, when Israel went after Hizballah in Lebanon, Olmert said that the operation would end when Hizballah disarmed, and -- well, that didn't happen, did it?
 

 

 

In a televised speech, Nasrallah said that Israel had not set a clear target for the current Gaza operation, asserting that the IDF wasn't sure it would achieve anything and that the military action in the Strip would end in failure.
 
7. Ramayana with digital imagery. Eight years over sixty is the age when one thinks of pampering oneself after a hectic life of career and cares. But not for S.R. Kolluri who began exploring his right brain after retirement to satiate his creative urge. The end result is ‘Ramayana’, a repetition of the epic story in a refreshed format. Displayed at the recently-inaugurated Hyderabad Book Fair, Mr. Kolluri’s work contains in each page, digitally created images along with a brief explanation.  (organiser.org)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
At an age which is not conducive even to understand the basics of computer operation, this sexagenarian used virtual painting software along with digital imaging technology to achieve the result.
 
Hyderabad: Eight years over sixty is the age when one thinks of pampering oneself after a hectic life of career and cares. But not for S.R. Kolluri who began exploring his right brain after retirement to satiate his creative urge. The end result is ‘Ramayana’, a repetition of the epic story in a refreshed format.
 
Displayed at the recently-inaugurated Hyderabad Book Fair, Mr. Kolluri’s work contains in each page, digitally created images along with a brief explanation. At an age which is not conducive even to understand the basics of computer operation, this sexagenarian used virtual painting software along with digital imaging technology to achieve the result.
 
“I used Wacom Tablet with electronic pen to draw the individual images. Then I used Adobe Photoshop to merge them and created the required setting,” he explained.
 
A petroleum geologist by profession, Mr. Kolluri worked with ONGC initially and later with Bahrain Petroleum Company. Also a dabbler with water colours and acrylics, he did not struggle hard to decide what he would do after retirement.
 
“My mother, an ardent devotee of Rama, would often ask me to paint Ramayana. But it would be an enormous task if I started doing it in colours and canvas. Instead, I chose the digital medium to express myself,” Mr. Kolluri said.
 
He depicted 110 scenes from the epic, about 18 to 20 for each kanda. These he displayed at an exhibition in State Gallery of Art in April this year. Turnout at the exhibition encouraged him to come out with a book with these images. However, his mother did not live to see her dream realising.
 
The premium edition of the book is priced at Rs. 450, while it is on offer for Rs. 350 at the exhibition. Mr. Kolluri says he will donate the sale proceeds to Sankuratri Foundation at Kakinada, to be used for their education and health initiatives.
 
(Courtesy: The Hindu)
 
8. CPM rout in red bastion in Kerala (organiser.org)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
By S Chandrasekhar
 
As a definite pointer to the CPM-led LDF’s rout in the Lok Sabha polls 2009, the CPM lost eight of the nine wards in the by-polls to Shornur Municipal Corporation recently. Shornur in Palakkad district is an unshakable ‘Red Fort’ and the CPM has ruled here for three decades. The CPM has been reduced to a minority in the 33 member civic body, with CPM rebels (pro-VS men expelled by Pinarayi) carrying the day.
 
Palakkad was the only district in Kerala which Chief Minister VS Atchudanandan had in his kitty. The units of all other 13 districts of Kerala owe allegiance to the party strongman Pinarayi Vijayan. After the party state meet in Kottayam, the Pinarayi-dominated state committee dissolved the Palakkad district branch and local units and packed them with ad-hoc committees owing loyalty to Pinarayi Vijayan. The situation of the VS group was so pathetic that Palakkad and Ottapalam MPs—NN Krishnadas and S Ajaya Kumar—were even denied entry into local committees. When MR Murali, chairman of the Shornur Municipality protested, he was expelled from the party. In solidarity with him eight members of the municipality resigned. The CPM used goonda force to deal with them. Several of them, women corporators, were attacked and there were two attempts on M.R. Murali’s life.
 
But unfazed by the ‘Red Terror’ they faced the by-polls. In an open defiance to the Pinarayi dominated CPM, the rank and file of the CPM campaigned for MR Murali and his team, warding off threats to their life. They had also, behind the screen support of VS.
 
The MR Murali-led Janakeeya Vikasa Samithi (JVS) trounced the CPM in eight of the nine wards thereby capturing the 33 member Shornur Municipality with the support of 7 member UDF and one member BJP.
 
Similarly in several parts of Kerala opposition to the ‘Stalinist Pinarayi’ dominated CPM has erupted with parallel revolutionary CPM and Revolutionary DYFI units springing up especially in strongholds like Onjiyam.
 
The rank and file of the CPM are violent against the Kannur lobby of Pinarayi - Kodiyeri- Jayarajan- Sreemathi which has taken the party from its ideological pro-poor mooring to a corporatised, asset grabbing pro-rich party. Party channel, water guzzling theme parks, five star hotels and tourist resorts have become the priorities of these pro-rich proletariat leaders who own mansions worth crores of rupees and holiday in Singapore, Austria and Europe. Their children study in US and London spending crores of rupees. In several districts, state and PB meets, the luxurious lifestyle of the CPM big bosses and their Monkey-Brigade Chotta Comrades’ have come in for severe criticism.
 
What the CPM lovers still dream is of a leadership which will pull it out of its time-barred hardline, impractical, old-guard communist VS and a pro-capitalist Pinarayi whose only aim is asset-accumulation. They want a changed leadership which will take the state forward.
 
Chasing the failed communist ideology, Kerala has remained stagnant and redundant for the past 50 years, despite high literacy, top brains and unlimited natural and other resources. Kerala has to come out of the CPM chains for progress. May be, this election result is a beginning?
 
9. Highs and lows mark an eventful year for India (http://dailypioneer.com/)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
PTI | New Delhi
 
India wraps up an eventful 2008 marked by highs and lows with the year-end events like the unprecedented terror attacks in Mumbai and the global economic downturn overtaking the dramatic survival of the government in Parliament and the consummation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
 
The launch of unmanned mission to moon 'Chandrayaan-I' pitchforked the country into the exclusive club of moon-faring nations giving it the confidence to plan a human spaceflight by the middle of the next decade.
 
The mercurial Indo-Pak relations again came under strain once again in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes with Pakistan continuing to be in denial mode over the perpetrators of the attacks emanating from its soil and still not ready to act on India's demands to bring them to justice.
 
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in April-May, assembly elections in five states considered the semi-final before the big battle ended 3-2 in Congress' favour against BJP. Jammu and Kashmir also braved the separatists' boycott call and the militant's gun to return a hung verdict producing a National Conference-Congress coalition government.
 
Abhinav Bindra gave India the unprecedented gold in the Olympics and boxers made merry in the Beijing Games while cricketers continued their terrific run with humbling mighty Australia and England on the home soil.
 
10. Bangladesh triumphs -Hasina’s victory is a rejection of Islamic fanatics (http://dailypioneer.com/)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
The Pioneer Edit Desk
 
The New Year has truly brought good news for Bangladesh which begins 2009 with a democratically elected Government that is not wedded to radical Islamism. While Sheikh Hasina Wajed and her Awami League were seen as front-runners in the race, nobody quite expected such a clean sweep that has pushed Begum Khaleda Zia’s BNP and her ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, to the margins of Bangladeshi politics. With 32 seats in the 300-member Jatiya Sansad, Begum Khaleda and her Islamist allies will have no infuence on the framing of policy, which is perhaps the best thing that could have happened to Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina, mindful of India’s concerns as well as the fact that the people have voted overwhelmingly against the politics of the BNP-Jamaat years which encouraged Islamic fanatics to run riot while Begum Khaleda, her sons and Cabinet colleagues looted the country, has pledged to rid Bangladeshi soil of Islamist malcontents, revive r elations between Dhaka and New Delhi, and focus on good governance. This is not a difficult agenda — with a thumping majority of 262 in Parliament, she can, if she summons courage and political will, bring about a sea-change in her country’s fortunes and guide it away from the disastrous course that had been charted by Begum Khaleda and her Islamist lackeys. India has always been supportive of her, not least because she heads the Awami League whose ‘secular’ credentials stand out in sharp contrast to the bilious green of the BNP-Jamaat combine. She can, therefore, look forward to India’s assistance, as well as that of democracies around the world. With such goodwill, she can go wrong only if she allows tainted politicians access to Dhaka’s corridors of power and repeats her mistakes of the past by trying to please everybody and thus ending up pleasing nobody. She must also avoid confrontational politics.
 
It is only to be expected that Begum Khaleda should respond so cussedly and crudely to her well-deserved defeat — having presided over Bangladesh’s descent into Islamist chaos and gory political violence, she wants to complete her unfinished task: Ensure that country’s total ruination. Hence her refusal to accept the people’s verdict and despicable attempt to paint what was clearly the most free and fair — as well as entirely peaceful — election as a “rigged exercise”. Her outrageous claim flies in the face of what hundreds of neutral election observers have said about the poll. Indeed, the military-backed interim Government deserves all-round praise for conducting the election in an exemplary manner. Voter lists were revised and bogus names were deleted; photo identity cards were issued to every adult Bangladeshi citizen; election law and rules were amended to keep out criminals and comm unal and corrupt politicians from the electoral process; and, adequate arrangements were made to ensure peaceful polling. That 85 per cent of the electorate turned out to vote on December 29 is a tribute to the interim Government’s efforts to restore democracy in Bangladesh without succumbing to the political blackmail of discredited parties like the BNP and the Jamaat. More importantly, by voting decisively against the BNP and the Jamaat, the people of Bangladesh have asserted their preference for a secular, plural and open society. Let them now take a New Year’s resolution: They shall erase whatever toxic traces remain of the BNP-Jamaat years. They owe this to Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.
 
11. Jihadi Terrorism--- 2008 & 2009: Part I: India - International Terrorism Monitor. Next to Israel, India has been waging the longest fight against jihadi terrorism of the home-grown as well as trans-national variety. ---Paper No. 487 - By B. Raman (southasiaanalysis.org)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
Next to Israel, India has been waging the longest fight against jihadi terrorism of the home-grown as well as trans-national variety. Israel's fight against jihadi terrorism started in 1967 and is 41 years old. The end is not yet in sight. India's fight against jihadi terrorism started in 1989 and is 19 years old. The jihadi terrorism faced by Israel is sponsored by a medley of states---- particularly Syria and Iran now and Libya, Iraq, and many other States of the Ummah   in the past. The jihadi terrorism faced by India is sponsored by Pakistan and facilitated by Bangladesh.
 
2. In terms of numbers, jihadi terrorists have killed more innocent civilians in India than in Israel. But if one keep's in mind Israel's small size and population, proportionately Israel has suffered immeasurably more than India. More innocent blood has flown in Israel than in India.
 
3. The jihadi terrorism faced by India falls into two categories----that in J&K and that in the Indian territory outside J&K, which for convenience sake will be referred to as hinterland India, an expression which Shri Ajit Doval, former Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), often uses.
 
4. As 2008 ends and we move into 2009, one has been seeing extremely gloomy accounts of 2008 triggered by the attack by the terrorists of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) in Mumbai from November 26 to 29, 2008, and the serial explosions that preceded it in Jaipur (May), Bangalore ( July), Ahmedabad (July) and Delhi (September). Some analysts have even called 2008 as the worst year in India's fight against terrorism.
 
5. We had faced worse years in 1985 when the Khalistani terrorists blew up the Kanishka aircraft of the Air India off the Irish coast killing 329 innocent civilians of different nationalities and in 1993 when a group of Indian Muslims from Mumbai recruited by Dawood Ibrahim, the mafia leader, and trained and equipped by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), targeted a number of establishments of economic significance in Mumbai and killed 257 civilians. It was the first co-ordinated attack on the economic infrastructure of India's financial capital--- similar to what we saw in Mumbai from November 26 to 29, 2008. It was also the first co-ordinated attack on the economic infrastructure by terrorists anywhere in the world.
 
6. The March, 1993, terrorist attack, even though more lethal, did not have the same traumatic impact on the Indian nation and the international community as the November, 2008, attack because it was over in a couple of hours and did not last about 60 hours as it happened in Mumbai in November, 2008. Moreover, private TV channels had not yet mushroomed in India. The Mumbai, 1993, attack was in the form of explosions.   TV viewers saw the carnage only after it had happened. The November,2008, attack, was in the form of a prolonged urban battle between some terrorists entrenched inside famous hotels (the Taj Palace and the Oberoi/Trident) and inside the offices of a Jewish cultural and religious centre located in the Nariman House and the security forces, including the National Security Guards (NSGs), the special intervention force. This entrenched battle was preceded by nearly an hour of cold-blooded k illings of civilians in public places such as a railway station, a hospital, a restaurant etc with hand-held weapons. TV viewers saw a live coverage of the entire terrorist attack.
 
7. We had faced a very bad year in 2006 when a group of jihadi terrorists--- Indians and Pakistanis--- carried out a series of explosions in suburban trains in Mumbai killing181 innocent civilians. It was copy-cat terrorism based on an emulation of what had happened in Madrid in March, 2004 and in London in July, 2005.
 
8. The four terrorist strikes in Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi were instances of heat of the moment acts of reprisal by sections of our own Muslim youth angered ---hopefully momentarily --- by local events such as what the Muslim youth saw as the severe sentences awarded to the jihadi convicts for their role in the explosions of March,1993, the campaign for the early hanging of Afzal Guru for his alleged involvement in the terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, by the LET and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) as compared (by the jihadi terrorists) to the absence of a similar campaign for the hanging of those found guilty in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, a resolution allegedly passed by the Bar Association of Lucknow that no lawyer should defend jihadi terrorists etc.
 
9. The terrorist attack in Mumbai in November---like the attack on the Indian Parliament in December, 2001---- was not a heat of the moment act of reprisal terrorism by small numbers of Indian Muslim youth. It was an act of terrorism planned and orchestrated from Pakistani territory for a mix of strategic purposes---- creating nervousness in the minds of foreign businessmen about the security of their lives and property in India, creating doubts in the minds of the Indian public and the international community about the capability of the Indian counter-terrorism community to protect lives and property, disrupting the developing close relations of India with the West in general and the US in particular and with Israel. Combined with these larger strategic dimensions was also an element of anger against the NATO forces for their operations against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and against Israel for its policy towards the Hamas. This would be evident from the barbarity to which the Israeli and other Jewish victims (9 out of 25) were subjected by the Pakistani terrorists and from the fact that the Westerners killed by the terrorists (12 out of 25) came from countries which are fighting against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan ----   the US, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Australia. It was definitely not Kashmir-related terrorism. Nor was it related to the grievances of the Indian Muslim community against the Government of India.
 
10. The Mumbai attack of November, 2008, also marked the emergence of the LET as an international jihadi terrorist organisation on par with Al Qaeda and also indicated the first possible role of Al Qaeda in mentoring, if not actually orchestrating, an act of strategic jihadi terrorism in Indian territory directed against Indian, Western and Jewish targets to compensate for its inability to repeat 9/11, Madrid and London till now. Al Qaeda's suspected orchestration was meant to demonstrate to the world that Al Qaeda is alive and kicking and will strike where it wants to and where it is able to and not where the world expects it to. The attack also demonstrated that Osama bin Laden's April, 2006, warning----in the wake of President George Bush's visit to India---- of a global jihad against the Christians, the Jewish people and the Hindus was not an empty threat. November, 2008, marked the opening of a new front in the global jihad. The terrorists came to kill Indians, Israelis and other Jewish persons and Westerners. They did not come to damage or destroy property. If they had wanted, they had explosives with which they could have caused serious damage to the hotels similar to the damage which the jihadi terrorists of Pakistan caused to the Marriott Hotel of Islamabad on September 20, 2008. They did not.
 
11. After the serial explosions in UP in November, 2007 and in Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi in 2008, there have been many superficial analytical articles written by analysts in India and abroad as if home-grown jihadi terrorism arrived for the first time in India in 2008. It was not so. India had been facing home-grown, but Pakistan-trained terrorism in J&K between 1989 and 1993 before the Pakistani organisations took over the leadership in 1993.Tamil Nadu had been facing jihadi terrorism unconnected to the ISI and the Pakistani organisations between 1993 and 1999 in the form of the Al Ummah movement. The March, 1993, explosions were carried out by some Indian Muslims recruited by Dawood and trained and equipped by the ISI. The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was initially a home-grown movement though it subsequently came under the influence and control of the LET and the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI), b oth of Pakistan.
 
12. What has been new since 9/11 is the emergence of a new group (not yet quantifiable) of Indian Muslims in hinterland India calling themselves the Indian Mujahideen (IM) and denying any links with the ISI and the Pakistani jihadi organisations and individual Muslims in the Indian Muslim diaspora in the UK without any proved organisational affiliation, who sought to help or emulate Al Qaeda. The IM took to terrorism due to anger arising from Indian events and policies. The pro-Al Qaeda individuals like Bilal-al Hindi now in jail in the UK for assisting Al Qaeda and Kafeel Ahmed who died in hospital after an attempted attack of suicidal terrorism in Glasgow in June, 2006, took to terrorism for reasons unconnected with India. They were the first global jihadi terrorists from the Indian Muslim community, who were motivated by what is projected by Al Qaeda as global and historical injustice against the Muslims of the world.
 
13. Are there Indian Muslims in hinterland India, who are similarly motivated by a global and historical sense of injustice and not merely by anger due to purely Indian reasons? No such Muslim has so far been arrested, but one has been seeing openly expressed admiration for bin Laden among some Indian Muslim youth. One saw it during the anti-Bush demonstrations in some cities during Bush's visit to India in March, 2006, and in the interrogation reports of some arrested SIMI leaders. From admiration to action is just one step away.
 
14. Could any of these Indian Muslims ---not yet unarthed--- with admiration for bin Laden have played a role in assisting the LET in its attack in Mumbai? It will be unwise to rule this out just because no evidence in this regard has emerged so far. Lack of evidence does not prove a fact. It does not mean that a threat does not exist. A terrorist attack of this magnitude and precision could not have been so successfully planned and carried out without some local complicity. Only a local or a Pakistani member of the LET, who knew Mumbai well, would have known about the presence of many Jewish persons in the Nariman House during day as well as at night and about the very weak security at the rear entrance to the Taj Mahal Hotel.
 
15. The terrorist attacks of 2008 exposed the weaknesses in our counter-terrorism management as no other series of strikes in the past had---- lack of a culture of physical security and lack of co-ordination and of a culture of joint follow-up action on the intelligence available. Intelligence was available since September about the impending attack by LET terrorists coming by sea. The available intelligence might not have been 100 per cent complete in all respects, but it was substantial enough to sound the alarm bell in Delhi and Mumbai and to trigger a joint response to foil the attack. There was a shocking failure of follow-up action on the intelligence alerts. The Police, the Navy and the Coast Guard have to accept a major share of the responsibility for failing to act energetically to prevent the attack. The intelligence agencies cannot totally wash their hands off the tragedy by saying that their job ended with the collection an d dissemination of intelligence. It was equally their responsibility to ensure that the implications of the disseminated intelligence were understood by the agencies responsible for follow-up and that required follow-up action was taken. If this was not done, it was their responsibility to alert the Prime Minister. It is for that reason that intelligence chiefs have privileged access to the Prime Minister. That access was not utilised.
 
16. In 1998-99 after the nuclear tests of May, 1998, the Government of India revamped its national security management system with the creation of a National Security Council (NSC), a Secretariat to service the NSC (NSCS), a Strategic Policy Group (SPG), and a National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) ---- with the entire architecture supervised and co-ordinated by a National Security Adviser, who works directly under the Prime Minister and has his ears all the time. This system was further revamped in 2000 on the basis of our lessons learnt during the Kargil conflict of 1999. The revamped system consisted of an intelligence co-ordination committee and a technical resources co-ordination committee, both under the NSA, and a multi-agency centre in the IB to deal with terrorism to promote the culture of joint action.
 
17. The entire system set in place since 1998 to modernise our national security management on the pattern of good practices followed in the West and Israel failed. There was total dysfunction by the system as well as by those manning it. Our failure to prevent the November, 2008, attack was due to systemic as well as human failures. The human failure was at all levels----from the top to the bottom. A casual approach to security threats----from State or non-State actors---- has been part of our culture. The Chinese took advantage of it in 1962. The Pakistanis tried to take advantage of it in 1999, but failed. The jihadi terrorists from Pakistan took advantage of it in November, 2008, and succeeded.
 
18. Cover-up is another part of our national culture. The report of the committee, which enquired into the debacle of 1962, was never released and debated in Parliament and public. The report of the Kargil Review Committee was released and acted upon, but never discussed in Parliament. There now seems to be an attempt to avoid a comprehensive enquiry into the terrorist attack of November, 2008, similar to the enquiry by a bipartisan National Commission in the US after the 9/11 terrorist strikes and the enquiry by the Intelligence and Security Committee of the British Parliament into the London explosions of July,2005. With all eyes on the forthcoming elections, nobody wants a post-mortem. The public should not accept this and should mount pressure on the Government and the political class for a thorough enquiry. The argument that a public enquiry could demoralise the agencies and its officers should not be accepted. Thorough enquiries were held into the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and the reports released to the public without worrying about any demoralisation. Why should we be worried now?
 
19. The Police in the affected States have arrested many of the perpetrators of the jihadi terrorist strikes of 2008---- operatives of the IM as well as Ajmal Amir Kasab, the Pakistani, who was captured alive during the attack in Mumbai. Their interrogation has given a wealth of nuts and bolts details of tactical significance---- what is their background, how did they gravitate to terrorism, where and how were they trained, who trained them, what kind of explosives they used, where they procured them etc But they have not brought out much information of strategic value which could enable us to make a quantitative analysis of the threat facing us in 2009 and prepare ourselves to counter it.
Who are the real brains behind the IM? What is its command and control like? Does it have any strategic objective or is it purely heat of the moment reprisal terrorism? What are its external sources of funding? What are its external linkages----with the ISI, the Pakistani jihadi terrorist organisations and with the world of organised crime? The involvement of the world of organised crime in acts of terrorism, which became evident in March, 1993, continues to be one of the defining characteristics of jihadi terrorism in the Indian hinterland as could be seen from the suspected association of Riaz Bhatkal, an underworld character, with the IM.
 
20. The home-grown jihadi terrorism, which has struck us repeatedly since November, 2007, in the name of the IM, is an iceberg. Till we are able to identify, measure and blow up this iceberg, more such terrorist strikes involving serial explosions in important cities are likely. Was the disaster, which struck us in Mumbai in November, 2008, the LET tip of an Al Qaeda iceberg? It will be very unwise to presume that it cannot be so. There is an Al Qaeda iceberg which is on the move from the Pashtun tribal belt of Pakistan to areas outside as seen from the explosions outside the Danish Embassy in Islamabad in June, 2008, and outside the Marriott Hotel in September 2008. It is time we come out of our denial mode that what is happening in Pakistan cannot happen to us. It can.
 
21. We still do not have a coherent policy to deal with Pakistan, which has been a State-sponsor of terrorism in Indian territory and with Bangladesh as a facilitator. Our approach to Pakistan's sponsorship continues to be marked by the "kabi garam, kabi naram" (Sometimes hard, sometimes soft) syndrome.
 
22. India has been a victim of indigenous terrorism without external sponsorship as well as terrorism externally sponsored----from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Before 1979, we were also victims of tribal insurgencies in the North-East supported by China, which is no longer supporting them after 1979. One of the reasons why Indira Gandhi decided to support the independence movement in the then East Pakistan was because the ISI was giving sanctuaries to the terrorists and insurgents in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) from where they were operating in North-East India. The creation of Bangladesh ended this sponsorship in 1971, but it was revived by the intelligence agencies of Pakistan and Bangladesh after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman in 1975. We are still struggling to cope with it.
 
23. One of the lessons of the post-World War history of State-Sponsored terrorism is that it never ends unless the guilty state is made to pay a prohibitive price. STASI, the East German intelligence service, was behind much of the ideological terrorism in West Europe. The collapse of communism in East Germany and the end of STASI brought an end to this terrorism. The intelligence services of Libya and Syria were behind much of the West Asian terrorism and the Carlos group, then living in Damascus, played a role in helping ideological groups in West Europe. The US bombing of Libya in 1986, the strong US action against Syria, which was declared a State-sponsor of terrorism and against the Sudan, where Carlos shifted from Damascus, and the prosecution and jailing, under US pressure, of two Libyan intelligence officers for their complicity in the bombing of a Pan Am plane off Lockerbie on the Irish coast in 1988 brought an end to sta te-sponsorship of terrorism by Libya and Sudan. Syria has stopped sponsoring terrorism against the US, but continues to do so against Israel.
 
24. There are any number of UN resolutions and international declarations declaring state-sponsored terrorism as amounting to indirect aggression against the victim state. Unfortunately, there has been no political will in India to make Pakistan and Bangladesh pay a heavy price for their sponsorship of terrorism against India. Once a firm decision based on a national consensus is taken that the time has come to make Pakistan and Bangladesh pay a price, the question as to which organisation should do it and how will be sorted out. The problem is not that we don't have an appropriate organisation, but we don't have the will to act against Pakistan and Bangladesh. Our policy of "kabi garam, kabi naram" towards these two countries is encouraging them not to change their ways.
 
25. We must take action instead of depending on the US or other members of the international community to do so. Every country is interested in protecting the lives and property of only its own citizens. This is natural. It is the responsibility of the Government of India and the States to protect the lives and property of our nationals. There are many good things we can learn from the Israelis such as their passion for up-to-date data bases, all their agencies countering terrorism acting as a single team without ego clashes, turf battles and the tendency to pass the buck, public support for their counter-terrorism agencies, high investments in research & development of new technologies for counter-terrorism etc. India has remained a nation of dogs that bark, but do not bite. We have seen it after Mumbai too. It is time we emulate Israel and become a nation of dogs that don't bark, but bite ferociously. At the same time, some methods employed by Israel such as over-militarisation of counter-terrorism will prove counter-productive in a pluralistic, multi-religious state such as India. We have produced many good intelligence bureaucrats, but we have produced very few good intelligence professionals. Our counter-terrorism experts tend to be over-simplistic and superficial in their expertise, are not innovative and try to deal with technology savvy modern terrorism with methods and thinking which are not equally modern. The terrorists operating in India tend to be more modern and innovative in their thinking than the counter-terrorism agencies. Increasing their numbers and budgets alone will not produce results unless, simultaneously, there is also a change in their thinking and methods.
 
26. 2008 was not a totally gloomy year for India. There was gloom in the Indian hinterland. But, there was also sunshine in J & K for the first time in 19 years as seen from the spectacularly successful election held in the State in which over 50 per cent of the voters participated defying threats and intimidation from the terrorists and calls for boycott from their political mentors. Let me quote some statistics given by Kuldeep Khoda, the DG of Police of J&K, at a media conference on December 25, 2008 ("The Hindu" of December 26, 2008):
 
 
Terrorist violence showed a remarkable decline of 40 per cent in 2008 as compared to 2007.
Civilian deaths at the hands of the terrorists, which reached a peak of 1413 in 1996, came down to 164 in 2007 and only 89 in 2008.
48 political activists, including a Minister, were killed by terrorists during the 2002 election campaign. They could not kill a single political activist during this year's election campaign.
For the first time, 2008 witnessed the best ever performance of the police and the security forces on the human rights front. There was only one complaint of death in police custody, which is under investigation, and no complaint of disappearance from police custody.
27. At the same time, he warned against complacency and pointed out that there were still 800 trained terrorists----300 of them foreigners, mainly Pakistanis---- in the State waiting for an opportunity to step up terrorism.
 
28. There is terrorism fatigue in J&K as there was in Punjab when Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. Rao was bold enough to lift the President's rule and hold the elections disregarding advice from senior bureaucrats not to do so. The elections in Punjab marked the beginning of the people's alienation from the Khalistani terrorists. People in J&K are tired of violence and of the difficulties which they had to face as a result of security measures for nearly 19 years. They want normalcy, but this need not mean the beginning of the end of their feelings of alienation.
 
29. The feelings of alienation will not end just because of the spectacularly successful elections. They will end only through meaningful measures by the Govt. of India and the new Govt. headed by Omar Abdullah to address the legitimate grievances of the people and to fulfill some of the past promises to give greater powers to the State--- almost near autonomy, if not total autonomy. The elections also show that the mainstream parties have retained their political base despite 19 years of terrorism---- much of it directed against them--- and that the political base of the political mentors of the militancy such as the Hurriyat is as small as it always has been. Farooq Abdullah used to describe them as mohalla leaders and not State leaders who are afraid of elections because they know that elections could expose their limited following. He is probably right.
 
30. While keeping our fingers crossed in J&K, we have reasons to be proud of what our intelligence agencies and the security forces have achieved in J&K after 19 years of sustained and well-calibrated counter-terrorism. They are capable of achieving similar results in the Indian hinterland in 2009 if the systemic and individual deficiencies are identified and removed instead of being covered up, if they work in a co-ordinated and united manner as they did in J&K, if they receive the right political leadership, if Pakistan is made to pay a price for its sponsorship of jihadi terrorism and if we pay due to attention to the legitimate grievances of our Muslim co-citizens in hinterland India instead of dismissing them off-hand as imaginary. Some of them are not. Some of our Muslim youth have real causes for anger against the Indian State and society. We must take note of them and address them. Otherwise, we will drive them into the hands of the ISI and the likes of the LET, the JEM and Al Qaeda. Part II: Pakistan to follow
 
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
 
12. Jihadi Terrorism--- 2008 & 2009: Part II & Last: Pakistan-Afghanistan International Terrorism Monitor---Paper No. 488 -By B. Raman  (southasiaanalysis.org)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
The wave of suicide terrorism, which started in Pakistan after the commando action of the Pakistan Army in the Lal Masjid of Islamabad from July 10 to 13, 2007, continued unabated during 2008.
 
2. There were 57 attacks of suicide terrorism during 2008 killing 925 persons---- civilians and members of the Security Forces. In 2007, there were 56 acts of suicide terrorism with 636 fatalities. There were only 22 acts of suicide terrorism between 9/11 and January 1, 2007. The number of suicide attacks in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) decreased from 23 in 2007 to 16 in 2008, but in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) they increased from 21 in 2007 to 30 in 2008. The Swat district of the NWFP, where the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps (FC) have been struggling in vain for over a year since November, 2007, to bring the situation under control, recorded the largest number of suicide attacks for a single district----12 in 2008 with 101 fatalities as against only four attacks in 2007. There were four suicide attacks in Peshawar, the capital of the NWFP, during 2008 with 99 fatalities. There were 10 attacks in Punjab as against 9 in 2007--- with five of them reported from Lahore and   three in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi area as against five in the same area in 2007---one in Balochistan as against two in 2007 and nil in Sindh as against one in 2007.
 
3. While the wave of anger against the Pakistan Army for the commando action showed signs of subsiding, there has been a fresh wave of anger against the Army for following a policy of using Pashtuns against Pashtuns by training and arming local militias called Lashkars to counter the Sunni members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
 
4. Many of the members of these Lashkars are Shia Pashtuns recruited in the tribal belt.In retaliation for these attacks by the Lashkars, the TTP attacked not only the Shia members of the Lashkars, but also the villages to which they belonged. The attacks on the Shias were particularly heavy in the North-West Frontier Province where over a hundred Shias were killed by suicide bombers during the year.
 
5. The wave of anger over the Lal Masjid action started subsiding after Gen. Pervez Mushaaraf, former President, left office on August 18, 2008. The jihadis of the TTP and others held him personally responsible for the commando action, which killed a large number of tribal students studying in the girls' madrasa attached to the Masjid. But the anger has not totally disappeared. It continues in a reduced form due to what the jihadis view as the failure of the present elected Government headed by President Asif Ali Zardari to implement some of the promises made by it after coming to office. Among these promises were the restoration of the responsibility for the management of the masjid to those responsible before the commando action, re-opening of the two madrasas run by the masjid for poor children----one for boys and the other for girls---- and the release of all those arrested from the masjid and its madrasas before and during the com mando action.
 
6. It was the intense anger over the commando raid which initially led to the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), headed by Maulana Fazlullah, to take to arms against the Government in the Swat Valley of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and to the formation of the TTP under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud of South Waziristan. Anger over the alleged support of Benazir Bhutto to the commando action is believed by the investigators of the case of her assassination to have been one of the principal causes of her killing. The other cause was her publicly proclaimed readiness to allow US forces to operate in Pakistani territory if they had precise intelligence of the presence of top Al Qaeda leaders there.
 
7. This residual anger over the commando action and the new anger over what the TTP perceives as the policy of making Pashtuns kill Pashtuns through the Lashkars have been aggravated by a new wave of anger in the tribal belt over the steep increase in US missile and Predator (unmanned planes) strikes on suspected hide-outs of Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives in Pakistani territory. Initially, these strikes were focussed on suspected Al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban (followers of Serajuddin Haqqani) hide-outs in the Bajaur Agency and in North Waziristan, both in the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Subsequently, these attacks were also extended to South Waziristan to hit the suspected hide-outs of the TTP leaders, if the US had suspicion that the TTP was harbouring operatives of Al Qaeda or the Afghan Taliban. Towards the end of the year, the US started Predator strikes even on hide-outs in the NWFP.
 
8. The intensified US missile and Predator strikes during 2008 were caused by the US frustration over the unwillingness or inability of the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps, a para-military force of local Pashtun recruits officered by Punjabis from the Army, to go after the sanctuaries, which were providing men and arms and ammunition to the Taliban units fighting against the US-led forces in Afghan territory. This inaction on the part of the Pakistani security forces has resulted in a bleeding stalemate in Afghanistan with neither the Taliban nor the US-led forces being able to make much headway against each other, with the Taliban continuing to retain the ability for surprise attacks from sanctuaries in Pakistani territory. Such surprise attacks kill and spread destruction, but do not result in territorial dominance for the Taliban. Reliable assessments indicate that the Afghan Taliban now has a presence in over two-thirds of Afg hanistan, but presence does not mean territorial dominance or control.
 
9. The US strategy till now has been to deny territorial dominance or control to the Taliban. The robust policy which President-elect Barack Obama has promised and the new strategy being formulated by Gen. David Petraeus, the new Commander of the US Central Command, would seek to expand the objective to one of establishing the territorial dominance of the US-led forces and the Afghan National Army (ANA) in the whole of Afghanistan right up to the border with Pakistan by going after the Taliban cells or units operating in Southern and Eastern Afghanistan and in the Kabul area with the help of local militias similar to the Awakening Councils in Iraq . The surge of 30,000 additional troops, which the US is planning to induct into Afghanistan in the coming months, is meant to make this expanded objective a reality.
 
10. The success of the new policy will depend upon the neutralisation of the sanctuaries in Pakistani territory which keep the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighting against the US. The neutralisation of the sanctuaries of the Taliban is necessary for the success of the US-led forces and the ANA in Afghanistan. Without the neutralisation of the Al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistani territory, the US cannot be free of fears of another 9/11 in the US homeland. Military and intelligence officers of the US realise that the US objectives vis-a-vis Al Qaeda and the Taliban cannot be met unless these sanctuaries are wiped out and the surviving leadership of Al Qaeda is neutralised. They also realise that missile and Predator strikes alone (over 30 during 2008 as compared to 10 during the previous two years) cannot achieve their objective unless combined with clandestine strikes by land-based stealth forces. They did attempt one such strike in Septemb er in South Waziristan. It was not successful and the furore in Pakistan over it led to their abandoning any more land-based strikes in Pakistani territory.
 
11. The US finds itself in the same position as the USSR found itself in Afghanistan before it decided to quit in 1988. The Soviet troops avoided land-based action against the sanctuaries of the Afghan Mujahideen in Pakistani territory. They confined their retaliatory strikes to Scud missiles fired at the suspected hide-outs of the Mujahideen in Pakistani territory. The civilian deaths caused by the Scuds added to the anger among the Afghan refugees and strengthened their determination to step up their attacks on the Soviet troops in Afghan territory and on Soviet convoys taking logistics supplies to the far-flung Soviet posts. The Mujahideen's success in disrupting the logistics supplies was one of the factors, which contributed to the Soviet decision to quit.
 
12. The Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, advised by retired officers of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) such as Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul, are following against the US-led forces the same strategy which the Mujahideen had followed against the Soviet troops-----keeping them bleeding and trying to starve them of essential supplies. In addition to keeping up a high level of suicide and other terrorism in Afghan territory to disrupt road movements of troops and supplies and weaken the control of the ANA in towns, they have stepped up their attacks on road movement of supplies for the NATO forces from Karachi. The US is trying to work out alternate routes through Russia, Georgia and the Central Asian Republics (CARs). It remains to be seen how satisfactory the proposed new supply routes will be.
 
13. Obama's advisers, apparently influenced by the analysis of Ahmed Rashid, the Pakistani analyst, have been talking of a new political strategy to be combined with a new operational strategy. Rashid has been selling the idea that the root cause of the Pakistan Army's unwillingness or inability to deal with the sanctuaries can be traced to its unhappiness over the lack of any forward movement in its talks with India over Kashmir and its concerns over what it sees as the increasing Indian presence in Afghanistan. He has been saying that if Pakistan's unhappiness and concerns on these two issues can be mitigated, its Army will put more heart into the fight against the sanctuaries.
 
14. When Obama's advisers talk of a regional strategy, they mean being responsive to Pakistan's perceived unhappiness and concerns. If they do it, they can exercise more pressure on the Pakistan Army to deal with the sanctuaries and if and when Pakistan does it, it will befefit not only the US, but also India. So their argument goes. This is pure wishful thinking and betrays a failure to comprehend the Pakistani mind-set. Pakistan looks upon the various terrorist groups operating from its territory ----whether against India or Afghanistan or the US---- as strategic assets to limit the power of India and its influence in Afghanistan and the CARs. It is not going to voluntarily give up these perceived assets, unless forced to do so.
 
15. The inaction or inability or both of successive Pakistan Governments has enabled Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban, the anti-India terrorist organisations, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), the Islamic Jihad Group ( (IJG) and radicalised members of the Pakistani diaspora in Europe and North America acquire a strategic depth in the tribal belt of Pakistan from where they can operate wherever they want all over the world----whether against India or Afghanistan or the West or Russia or even against Pakistan if it co-operates too closely with the US.
 
16. What the Obama administration would need is a regional strategy to eliminate the terrorirst sanctuaries in Pakistani territory and to deprive the jihadi terrorists of the world of the strategic depth which they presently enjoy in Pakistani territory. This is a strategy on which the US and India can closely collaborate as and when Obama and his advisers come out of their present mode of wishful thinking.
 
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retired), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com)
 
13. Vedic Verses for 1/1/09. Lead us to a wide world, O wise one, t o heavenly light, fearlessness, and blessing. Strong are your arms, O powerful Lord. We resort to your infinite refuge.(Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vedic Verses
A daily collection of verses from the Vedas, Hinduism's revealed scripture
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Vedic Verses for 1/1/09
 
Lead us to a wide world, O wise one, t o heavenly light, fearlessness, and blessing. Strong are your arms, O powerful Lord. We resort to your infinite refuge.
 
Atharva Veda XIX, 15, 4
 
May the atmosphere we breathe breathe fearlessness into us: fearlessness on earth and fearlessness in heaven! May fearlessness guard us behind and before! May fearlessness surround us above and below!
 
Atharva Veda XIX, 15, 5
 
May we be without fear of friend and foe! May we be without fear of the known and the unknown! May we be without fear by night and by day! Let all the world be my friend!
 
Atharva Veda XIX, 15, 6
 
Blessing and joy to our mother and father! Joy to cattle, to beasts, and to men! May all well-being and graces be ours! Long may we see the sun!
 
Atharva Veda I, 31, 4
 
May the wind blow us joy, may the sun shine down joy on us, may our days pass with joy, may the night be a gift of joyful peace! May the dawn bring us joy at its coming!
 
Atharva Veda VII, 69
 
14. The Master Course - Lesson 264. Who Are the Priests of Siva Temples? Adishaiva priests are the hereditary pujaris, who care for the temple and conduct its varied rites and rituals as humble servants of God. They are trained in the complex arts of worship, generally from a young age. Aum.   (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
 
The Master Course
The lesson of the day from Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's trilogy: Dancing with Siva, Living with Siva and Merging with Siva
 
Lesson 264
 
Lesson 264
 
Sloka 109 from Dancing with Siva
Who Are the Priests of Siva Temples?
Adishaiva priests are the hereditary pujaris, who care for the temple and conduct its varied rites and rituals as humble servants of God. They are trained in the complex arts of worship, generally from a young age. Aum.
 
Bhashya
Every temple has its own staff of priests. Some temples appoint only one, while others have a large extended family of priests to take care of the many shrines and elaborate festivals. Most are well trained from early childhood in the intricate liturgy. Siva temple pujaris are usually brahmins from the Adishaiva lineage, though in certain temples they are not. These men of God must be fully knowledgeable of the metaphysical and ontological tenets of the religion and learn hundreds of mantras and chants required in the ritual worship. When fully trained, they are duly ordained as Sivacharyas to perform parartha puja in a consecrated Siva temple. Generally, pujaris do not attend to the personal problems of devotees. They are God's servants, tending His temple home and its related duties, never standing between the devotee and God. Officiating priests are almost always married men, while their assistants may be brahmacharis or widowers. T he Agamas explain, "Only a well-qualified priest may perform both atmartha puja, worship for one's self, and parartha puja, worship for others. Such an Adishaiva is a Saiva brahmin and a teacher." Aum Namah Sivaya.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lesson 264 from Living with Siva
Good and Bad; Like Attracts Like
What do we mean when we say there is no good and no bad, only experience? We mean that in the highest sense, there is no good and bad karma; there is self-created experience that presents opportunities for spiritual advancement. If we can't draw lessons from the karma, then we resist or resent it, lashing out with mental, emotional or physical force. The original substance of that karma is spent and no longer exists, but our current reaction creates a new condition of harsh karma to face in the future. As long as we react to karma, we must repeat it. That is the law.
 
Good or bad is just a door, going one way or the other. So I say, "There is no good, there is no bad; there is just a swinging door." Good deeds siphon the collective good deeds of other good deeds. When the door swings the other way, mistakes siphon the results of past mistakes. Hatreds, the accumulated results of hating, are pulled up from way down there. Thus, one of the major keys to understanding the importance of good conduct relates to the release of seed karmas. Performing dharma--acting with correct thought, word and deed--siphons the results of previous patterns of behavior from the past and causes those seeds to sprout in this life. Like attracts like. These patterns then aid the individual by bestowing clarity of mind and a life in which yoga can be performed and truth sought. In the practice of yoga, the negative seed karmas can actually be burned up without ever having to be lived through.
 
Conversely, adharma--wrong thought, word and deed--siphons the results of past misdeeds, like attracting like. These seed karmas begin to bear bitter fruit, resulting in a miserable life and state of mind. The individual is immersed in confusion, wrong patterns of thought and is, of course, in no position to practice yoga, follow dharma or realize truth. He is simply immersed in samsara.
 
In His own way, Siva is bringing you into realization, into knowledge of yourself and of Him. He has given you the world of experience. Study your experience. Learn from your experience. If it is painful, that is also good. In the fires of experience, which are both pain and pleasure, you are being purified. It is Siva's duty to bring you forward into the fullness of yourself. In doing so, you must go through much pain, through much joy. Both register on the scale as the same intensity of emotion. It is what caused it that makes one more pleasurable than another. Don't be afraid of experience, and don't be afraid to go through your karma. Go through it with courage.
 
Of course, you can minimize reactions to unhappy experiences by performing selfless service, which will create good karma. This is what you have to do to progress your spiritual life. Moksha--enlightenment and liberation from rebirth--is the ultimate goal of all souls. The exit is through the crown chakra. Go forward without fear.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sutra 264 of the Nandinatha Sutras
Decision-making By Consensus
My devotees abide by "consensualocracy." All involved in a decision must unanimously agree and obtain the guru's blessings before proceeding. No votes are taken based on the majority superceding the minority. Aum.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lesson 264 from Merging with Siva
The High "eee" Sound
 
Within the quantum level of consciousness there originates a vibration, a steady vibration, that can be heard with the inner ear as a high-pitched "eeeee," as if a thousand vinas were playing, as if all the nerve currents in the astral body, physical body and the body of the soul were singing in harmony. It is a divine combination of the ida and pingala tones blended together in the sushumna. Each lineage of gurus has embedded within the psyche of tradition a certain combination of sounds, and that listening to this mystic sound holds all devotees close to their satguru and all those who preceded him. It is also said that when one is in another birth, the sound is the same, and this will eventually lead the aspirant back to his spiritual lineage. Listening to the nada, as it is called in Sanskrit, or nada-nadi shakti, brings the threshold of bliss and shows that the balance of all karmas has been attained. Listening to the na da and tracing it into its source carries the seeker's awareness to the brink of the Absolute. There are today mystical orders that do nothing but listen to the nada while looking at and enjoying the darshan of their guru's picture.
 
Many sincere seekers wonder why they cannot hear "eeeeee," the nada, during their meditation, whereas others not only hear it during meditation but during the day when talking, shopping or just meandering through the garden. This is to say, it is there when awareness enters that area of the mind. The mind has to be made empty. That means resolving all unresolved conflicts within the subconscious. The striving to hear the nada will bring up unresolved issues. They may plague the conscious mind until resolved. At first you might disregard them and feel they will go away as abruptly as they came. But later, when they persist, and the major one is deception--yes, we can even deceive ourselves--we are inwardly forced to face up to, admit our secrets and make amends. When deception goes, the nada comes. When the subconscious is heavy, the nada and the brilliant colors it radiates fade. Failure on the path puts the nada out of range of the inner ear of the soul.
 
The mystical nada, it's a medley of sounds, and each sound which is there has a color, but may be covered, as is the light of the mind of the soul, the clear white light. It is covered, but not permanently. Admittance of the mistakes, the experience of repentance and the performance of penance, called prayashchitta, lay the foundation for a reconciliation that will release the force of lower nature into the higher and uncloud the veil that hid the inner light, that hid the nada--that incomprehensible high-pitched "eee," sounding within the head, that incomparable source of inner security, contentment and outpouring of love. When you hear the nada, endeavor to project it in love's outpouring to all those who are in your orbit of communication. They will feel the blessings when your divine love is projected through your nada into their nada. This is the height of selfless consciousness, universal love, a constant mystically out pouring and experience of oneness. The sushumna is nada and more. Nada shakti is. It just is. 
 
15. Gospel of Jesus: Did Jesus advise to Divide, to Kill, and to Rule? Was he a Terrorist? Who can believe this?
i) Holy Bible - New Testament, Luke 12; 51-53: Jesus said:
"Do you suppose that I came to bring peace to the World? No, not peace, but division. From now on a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers; mothers will be against their daughters and daughters against their mothers; mothers-in-law will be against their daughters-in-law, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law."
ii) Holy Bible, New Testament, Luke 20; 27: Jesus said: “for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence.”
iii) Holy Bible New Testament, MATHEW 16; 18-19: Jesus said, "Peter: you are a rock, and on this rock I will build my Church, and not even death will ever be able to overcome it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; what you prohibit on Earth will be prohibited in Heaven, and what you permit on Earth will be permitted in Heaven."
 
16. Tirukural - Section II: The Way of The Householder.  He alone may be called a householder who supports students, elders and renunciates pursuing well their good paths. (Kauai_Hindu_Monastery@jnanadana.com)
 
Date: - 2-1-09
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Tirukural
A daily chapter from South Indian saint Tiruvalluvar's Tirukural, "Holy Couplets."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section II: The Way of The Householder
 
Chapter 5: Family Life
Kural 41
He alone may be called a householder who supports
students, elders and renunciates pursuing well their good paths.
Kural 42
The virtuous householder supports the needs
of renunciates, ancestors and the poor.
Kural 43
The foremost duty of family life is to serve duly these five:
God, guests, kindred, ancestors and oneself.
Kural 44
The posterity of householders who gather wealth without misdeeds
and share meals without miserliness will never perish.
Kural 45
When family life possesses love and virtue,
it has found both its essence and fruition.
Kural 46
If a man masters the duties of married life,
what further merits could monkhood offer him?
Kural 47
Among those who strive for liberation, the foremost are they
who live the blessed state of family life as it should be lived.
Kural 48
The householder dedicated to duty and to aiding
ascetics on their path of penance endures more than they do.
Kural 49
Domestic life is rightly called virtue. The monastic path,
rightly lived beyond blame, is likewise good.
Kural 50
He who rightly pursues the householder's life here on Earth
will be rightfully placed among the Gods there in Heaven.
 
17. Modi spends New Year with BSF jawans and promises supporting facilities. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
 
Date: 2.1.09
 
1 Jan 2009, 2151 hrs IST, PTI
 
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had spent the day with the Border Security Force on the Indo-Pak international border in Vighakot and Koteshwar Creek area on Thursday.
 
Modi examined the posts and fencing at Vighakot international border touching Pakistan, an official release said.
 
Arrangements would be made to ensure enough water for the soldiers in the Vighakot border area, Modi said, adding that he would recommend the Centre to provide telecommunication facilities in the border areas so that the soldiers can talk to their family frequently.
 
The chief minister announced 20 television sets and dish antennas to be provided by the state government for the soldiers.
 
Arrangements would also be made to provide electricity to soldiers from the 66 KW power plants in Vighakot, the release added.
 
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Modi_spend_New_Year_with_BSF_men/articleshow/3923085.cms
 
18. Aag lagao, aag lagao, LeT bosses told Mumbai attackers. According to sources, details of Voice over Internet Protocol calls between the jihadis holed up in the Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House and their Lashkar bosses in Pakistan provide a chilling account of the remorseless efficiency with which the massacre was choreographed. (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/)
 
Date: 2.1.09
 
Masterminds In Pak Directed Ops Via Satellite Phone
 
Diwakar | TNN
 
New Delhi: For a terror group that masterminded an atrocity of the scale of 26/11 and grabbed global attention, the Lashka-e-Taiba handlers of the Mumbai attackers directed their jihadi charges in a ruthlessly calm and calculated manner.
 
According to sources, details of Voice over Internet Protocol calls between the jihadis holed up in the Taj and Trident hotels and Nariman House and their Lashkar bosses in Pakistan provide a chilling account of the remorseless efficiency with which the massacre was choreographed.
 
Conversations between the terrorists and Lashkar leaders, identified as senior jihadis Zarar Shah, Abu Hamza and Abu Qafa, is now a crucial part of the clinching evidence of Mumbai attacks being a handiwork of the ISI-backed Pakistani terror tanzim. Though the Lashkar leaders used VoIP to mask their identity and the origin of calls, cooperation from foreign agencies, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, helped Indian investigators access the call details.
 
 As the assailants went about their macabre business, their handlers, who were monitoring coverage of the action at the two hotels and the Jewish dwelling of Nariman House, asked the terrorists to keep watch on the points from where security personnel and commandos could come in. Talking in rustic Punjabi, the gang leaders asked them to lob grenades at advancing commandos and move to positions from which they could take fire at the challengers.
 
Terrorists were repeatedly exhorted to start fires. “Aag lagao, aag lagao” is the instruction that the terrorists were repeatedly given at all the three sites of attack from their bosses who, obviously, intended to maximise casualties.
 
The Pakistan-based leaders told their wards at Nariman House to kill the Israelis. The terrorists were also asked to spare Muslims in the two hotels — a directive which conflicted with the task of indiscriminate firing assigned to Mohammad Ajmal Kasab and Ismail at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Cama Hospital and other places that led to the death of 39 Muslims.
 
The voice intercepts show the gang leaders remained not just calm, but even found time to engage in banter with their wards over the interview that one of them, Imran Babar, the terrorist at Nariman House, gave to an Indian channel. The handler sounded happy that Babar had used some English words. “Tum bhi dena chahte ho,” he asked others.
 
The banter gave way to some seriousness after the arrival of commandos. “Fauj aa rahi hai, cover lo.” But there was no display of panic, with the Lashkar commanders, confident that flushing out the terrorists was not going to be easy for the NSG jawans, asking them to eat khajoor, not to get tired and take turns to sleep. “Thakna nahin hai”, was one of the instructions as the LeT leaders were clearly aware that the fidayeen squad was ready to die fighting.
 
One of the bosses did not seem perturbed or even concerned when told by a terrorist that he had been badly injured. “Aakhiri waqt aa gaya hai, namaaz ada karo”, said the composed voice at the other end, according to sources.Invoking jihadi logic,the handler asked the wounded terrrorist — “do you have a message to give”?
 
TERROR TALK
 
Indian investigators have precise intercepts of conversation between the LeT squad in Mumbai and its Pakistani handlers. The terrorists spoke in rustic Punjabi accents and controllers were clearly located in Pakistan. Extracts:
 
Aag lagao, aag lagao
 
The instructions were to start fires to maximise casualties and damage
 
Fauj aa rahi hai, dekhte raho... cover karo...
 
Referred to arrival of commandos, handlers were monitoring TV
 
Khajoor le gaye ho, khate rehna...thakna nahin... beech beech mein baari baari se sote rehna.
 
Indicated planning for a long, determined haul
 
Aakhiri waqt aa gaya hai, namaaz ada karo. Koi paigaam dena chahoge?
 
A final exchange as commandos zeroed in on the terrorists
 
Koi Commissioner mara gaya hai...
 
An excited voice tells the squad — a reference to killing of ATS chief Hemant Karkare and a confirmation that he was not, as conspiracy theorists allege, specifically targeted
 
19. Serial blasts on the New Year Day jolt Assam just before Home Minister reached there. Security agencies were of the view that militants carried out the attacks to send a message to Chidambaram that they can strike as and when they want.  (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/)
 
Date: 2.1.09    
 
Five Killed, 67 Injured In Guwahati New Year Attack
 
Naresh Mitra & Rajiv Konwar | TNN
 
Guwahati: The year 2009 began on a bloody note in Assam with suspected ULFA militants triggering a serial blasts in Guwahati that left five dead and over 67 injured.
 
The three explosions took place a few hours before Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s reached here on Thursday evening. He was escorted to the Raj Bhawan from the airport under tight security.
 
Police said the first blast took place near Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi TB Hospital at Birubari injuring five persons, including a 10-year-old child, at 2.35 pm.
 
This was followed by another explosion at the busy Bhutnath market near the famed Kamakhya Temple. Two persons died and about 25 others were injured. Police said the militants had planted an IED on a bicycle.
 
The third blast, which was more devastating, was carried out at Bhanghar, one of the poshest areas in Guwahati, at 5.45 pm. Dotted with shopping mall, the spot is located about 200 metres from the office of The Times of India. Three of the 34 people injured in the blast died in hospital. Police suspected that the bomb was kept inside a pan shop, whose owner also suffered injuries.
 
 The New Year Day blast occurred two months after the October 30 serial explosions that killed 89 people in Guwahati, Kokrajhar, Barpeta Road and Bongaigaon.
 
Security agencies were of the view that militants carried out the attacks to send a message to Chidambaram that they can strike as and when they want. Chidambaram’s maiden visit to Assam as Union home minister holds significance because he is scheduled to discuss cross-border terrorism (from Bangladesh) with chief minister Tarun Gogoi.
 
ASSAM’S AGONY
 
Jan 1, ’09, Guwahati | 5 killed, 67 injured
Oct 30, 2008 | 9 serial blasts at Guwahati, Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon. 89 killed, over 300 injured
Sept 30, Tinsukia | 2 blasts kill 5, wound 50
Sept 20, Sivsagar | 17 injured in blast
Aug 15, Dhubri | 2 blasts in Dhubri, one in Chirang. No casualty
June 29, Baksa | 6 killed in Ulfa blast
Feb 27, Tezpur | 1 killed in Ulfa blast
Jan 13, Guwahati | 17 wounded in Ulfa blast
 
ULFA hand suspected in Assam blasts
 
Guwahati: few hours before Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s reached here on Thursday evening, three explosions shook Assam. “We suspect ULFA’S hand. Investigation is on. Forensic experts have rushed to the spot,” senior superintendent of police P.C. Saloi said.
 
In its mouthpiece, Freedom, ULFA on Thursday said, “India wanted to dominate South Asia, ignoring the sovereignty of other countries in the region.” It accused the Centre of “equally suppressing” the demand of “sovereignty” by the people of Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Kamatapur. On the other hand, pro-talks ULFA leaders led by Mrinal Hazarika and Jiten Gogoi announced that they had dropped the sovereignty demand in favour of more autonomy on the lines of J&K. TNN
 
20. FBI set to present proof to Pak (http://epaper.timesofindia.com)
 
Date: 2.1.09
 
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
 
New Delhi: Clinching and incontrovertible proof that the Mumbai terror attack was planned on and launched from Pakistani soil by Pakistanis will soon be presented to Islamabad by American sleuths after the FBI records enough evidence.
 
At all levels, starting from president Asif Ali Zardari to diplomats at the high commission in New Delhi, Pakistan has steadfastly denied that Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone captured terrorist, is one of its nationals and rejected the huge body of evidence that proved the attackers were Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives,trained with the help of ISI, in Pakistani camps.
 
But soon, Islamabad will have little choice but to accept the Indian contention because an independent USled probe will not only present similar facts, but Washington will insist that those suspected to be involved in the attack be handed over to the FBI.
 
These evidences include transcripts of conversations between the assailants and LeT commanders, Zakiurr Rahman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah. The other two Lashkar commanders who passed on directives to terrorists using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls were Abu Qafa and Abu Hamza. The media in the US and UK has reported that Washington has already handed over tapes of Shah’s conversations with the terrorists to Islamabad.
 
Since six American nationals were among the 173 people killed in Mumbai, the FBI is required by US laws to probe the Mumbai attacks. The agency is also required to file a case and conduct a trial in an American court of law, sources said.
 
The evidence that FBI has includes the details of satphone and VoIP calls, the GPS device used by the attackers to reach Mumbai, and the email sent in the name of Deccan Mujahideen to own up the massacre which has now been traced to Zarar Shah.
 
A vindicated India on Thursday again asked Pakistan to hand over the suspects in light of the “strong evidence” which has been delivered to Islamabad by the US.
 
Hand over suspects: Pranab
 
New Delhi: As international pressure mounts on Pakistan in the face of US corroborating incriminating evidence, Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday again called upon Islamabad to hand over the suspects to authorities probing Mumbai attacks. P 5
FBI visited Kasab’s village in Pakistan
 
A source, in the know of progress of the US investigation, said Pakistan would never agree to hand over the suspects to India and in the absence of an extradition treaty between Delhi and Islamabad, even US pressure would have little impact. But if FBI registers a case and books Pakistani nationals as suspects, then Islamabad would have little option but to allow the American agency to arrest suspects like Shah and Lakhvi and even Hafiz Saeed, the LeT chief.
 
Reports on Thursday said an FBI team visited Faridkot in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Kasab’s native village. Geo TV said the fivemember FBI team was headed by its South Asian director William Robert. Last month, Pakistani dailies said Kasab’s father had admitted that his son was one of the Mumbai terrorists.
 
That an American probe was gathering pace was evident from reports in the US media on Wednesday about Shah, the LeT communications head, admitting to being a lead planner of the Mumbai attacks. US officers are already in Pakistan to probe Shah’s role and may also take him and others like Lakhvi. Shah and Lakhvi had spoken to the attackers during the operations and transcripts are with the US agency, sources said.
 
As recently as August 2008, a US court obtained extradition of Taliban combatant Aafia Siddiqui, a US-educated 36-year-old Pakistani neuroscientist, who was accused of shooting at US soldiers in Afghanistan.
 
 Sources said that investigations by the FBI have confirmed that the location of satellite phones used by LeT commanders to talk to the assailants while they were on their way to Mumbai, had been in Pakistan for months.
 
 The VoIP calls to and fro the cell phones of terrorists when the attacks were on have also been traced to Lashkar leaders in Pakistan.
 
 The phones used by the terrorists in the two hotels had almost melted because of the fire that broke out, but FBI experts still managed to cull out call details and other relevant data once Indian authorities handed over the phones to them.
 
 US intelligence chief John Mc-Connell was said to have confirmed during his visit to India that one of the numbers logged on the satellite phone the terrorists used while navigating their way to Mumbai belonged to known Lashkar terrorist Abu Al Qama. Indian intelligence officials are familiar with the Thuraya satellite phone that Qama uses. The US, using its leverage with Sharjah, where Thuraya is headquartered, corroborated this fact.
 
The FBI is also said to have established independently that the email claiming responsibility for the attack was sent from Pakistan. The mail was sent in the name of Deccan Mujahideen and its IP address was traced to Russia. Indian agencies,however,had claimed that a proxy server was used to send the mail from Pakistan. Shah, investigations have revealed, was the man who sent the mail. TNN 

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